Much to think about on ABC last night

17Apr

For Lateline and the current status of Kevin Rudd see Sun keeps rising for Rudd on Journalspace where Oz politics/elections continues after a short break. I have posted the following YouTube there too:

Believed to be the highest serving Indigenous police officer at the time of his retirement in 2001, Col Dillon has faced racism and adversity head on and has never shied away from exposing those who dishonoured his profession.
In 1965, he joined the Queensland Police Force and endured years of racism. He was the whistleblower that forced the Fitzgerald Inquiry after refusing to accept a bribe and was a key witness in exposing those in the force who’d taken them.

Col Dillon was heavily involved in the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody. He was a vocal critic of the Beattie Government’s decision to scrap DATSIP (Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy) and recently quit the Department over the Queensland Government’s lack of response to the findings of the Mulrunji Doomadgee case.

He’s now pursuing a career in the private sector and has no idea what the future holds for him. All he knows is that he won’t give up the fight.

There is a full transcript of that. Do read it.

Difference of Opinion raised more questions than it answered, and Warren Brown’s input added to the Readers Digest tone of this show, I’m afraid. However, there were good issues raised and the panel was well chosen, even if Mal Brough came across as well-intentioned, but someone I can understand people hating. There will be full transcripts soon, or you can if you care to watch it online. The poll asked: “Since ATSIC was disbanded, should there be a new form of a national representative body for Indigenous Australians?” So far the results are: YES 73% NO 27%. Patrick Dodson gave good reasons for that. I did learn more about some of the good things being done, but I found myself sympathising with the man from the Edmund Rice Centre. See also this blog. There are two more transcripts to go up: Closing the Gap in Life Expectancy and A Brighter Day. The program does serve as a good introduction and update, but also lacks depth and historical perspective.

Alternative energy and current government policy

Earth, Wind & Fire on Four Corners was very, very informative. A full transcript is available.

…JONATHAN HOLMES: But the coalition’s hostility to higher renewable energy targets hasn’t changed. What the industry fears most is that the Howard Government will present the states with an ultimatum: if you want national emissions trading, get rid of your ‘Mickey Mouse’ schemes – the state-based mandatory renewable energy targets.

SUSAN JEANES, CEO, RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATORS AUSTRALIA: Well, that will collapse clean energy industry in Australia and it will ensure that we do what we are criticised for doing now which is bringing in imported technology forever.

JONATHAN HOLMES: For the Government, reducing emissions – and encouraging expensive renewables – comes second to maintaining the competitiveness of Australia’s established export industries.

IAN MCFARLANE, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, TOURISM AND RESOURCES: In my opinion, a scheme can or can’t work because it does or doesn’t keep jobs in Australia. If we just simply impose a scheme in Australia that disadvantages jobs and industry in Australia, then we might as well just ship jobs offshore.

JONATHAN HOLMES: But Vinod Khosla warns Australia that if it neglects renewables in favour of clean coal, it may find that it’s backed a losing horse.

VINOD KHOSLA, KHOSLA VENTURES: Most of the attempts at clean coal are half-hearted and very far away. I suspect, when we get there, we will find those technologies are very expensive. And I believe if you’re going to do something about climate change, we need technologies that can be more cost-effective than clean coal technologies. And solar thermal is one of the most promising areas to do that. So I encourage everybody, whether it is the Department of Energy in the United States, or the Australian Government, to invest in these alternatives, at least as much as in clean coal technologies.

JONATHAN HOLMES: According to the Energy Supply Association of Australia, increasing the current federal target for renewables tenfold need not unduly strain the Australian economy, or overstretch our wallets.

BRAD PAGE, CEO, ENERGY SUPPLY ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA: If you were to have a 20 per cent renewable target by 2020, across the board for the whole of Australia, then you’re probably going to add somewhere around 10 per cent to the production cost of electricity, so that would translate into, maybe, 4-6 per cent at the retail end.

JONATHAN HOLMES: If it helps, however slightly, to make a planet that’s liveable for their children, a rise of 6 per cent over the next dozen years might not seem, to most Australians, such a dreadful price to pay.

Media Watch

I do not believe 2GB’s Alan Jones is the Messiah. Some do. Certainly he is influential, and certainly he does a lot of good. But he is an odd one, to say the least, and having recently been quite rightly condemned for his comments before and during the Cronulla Riots of 2005 he is busy nailing himself to the cross. Such might have been one’s conclusion after seeing Alan Moans on Media Watch last night. See Alan Jones Sings below. (He’s not as bad as you may think!) Posted by whophd.

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